Wyrmstongue
Wyrmstongue is a legendary iron rune sword associated with the High Kings of the Nordic Empire. Its legend is one of the most well known in the North and beyond. It is currently in the possession of High King Hrothgar. The Legend The history of the blade is rather uncertain due to the variety in the legends and the lack of good records. However, the main legend claims the blade was made near the end of the Demon War. It is said that the warrior-poet Olaf Silver-Tongue sought an answer to the demon threat and thus decided to ask a dragon for aid. Dragons were known to be very fickle and clever creatures, but they held no love for demons and Olaf thought himself more clever than they. In the heart of Volgaland he found the lair of the dragon Volspa. He claimed that his tongue was the sharpest in all of the North lands and challenged the dragon to prove otherwise. To draw the creature’s interest he also declared that the loser would forfeit his tongue to the loser. For everyone knew in those days that the greatest vice and virtue of the dragons was gambling. They could never refuse a bet and always paid their debts so that people would still gamble with them. The dragon accepted his challenge with a hearty laugh because he knew that no human could possibly have as sharp a tongue as him. For hours they traded riddles and subtle jests, each proving their incredible wit again and again. Volspa, who was beginning to worry that he might lose, thought of a brilliant way to win. He plucked his own tongue from his mouth and within a few minuets it had cooled into a fine blade. The dragon then asks if Olaf would test their tongues edge to edge and truly see which was sharpest. Olaf shook his head and said, “Such cowardice, are you so afraid of losing that you hid an assassin behind you?” The dragon turned to see what he could be talking about and in a single movement Olaf seized the blade and cut off Volspa’s head. As the dragon’s head fell it laughed and offered one last prophecy. Olaf would conquer everything with Wyrmstongue but everything he won with the blade was forever cursed to be lost again. For his lies, all the truth in dragonkind would be sealed within the blade and neither man nor beast would ever get a straight answer from a dragon again. It also instructed him to go south to where a she-wolf nursed her cubs in the shade of a rock on the riverbank. There he would found a city that would stand forever. Afterwards it is said that he traveled the land slaying demons with his new sword. The blade became a brand of living fire in his hands and nothing could stand before him. Later kings lacked this power because in those days men were great beings whose souls were not bound by the anger of the fae. In time he led the Nords in the final battle of Mount Erebus where the demons were driven from this world. Once this was done he followed the dragon’s instructions and founded Akershus, the city of Kings. The presence of the sword in more historic records and sagas is harder to follow. The Old Kings were certainly known to have it, and it is believed that the High King carried it during the expansion of the Nord Empire. During the apex it falls out of the records and is not mentioned again until a saga written in 12 AB where a jarl laments the loss of Wyrmstongue generations before after a defeat at the hands of Kastus. That saga and the ascendancy of the Potentate Empire created a wave of romanticism and nostalgia for the Old Empire in the North. This wave was still present 200 years later when it influenced the young Hrothgar before he took the throne. While many people were doubtful that he had recovered Wyrmstongue, he is undefeated in battle and it has passed every test by the shamans and priests. Most have come to accept it as the true sword. Powers While no one has ever confirmed any fiery powers in the blade, it is magical. The blade works by reaching out to the wielder’s Stav, even in one who isn’t trained for magic, and allowing them to sense the world around them. The sword gives its master a six sense of everything at a short distance, particularly danger. It then prompts reactions in its master to counter that danger. This does not make the sword bearer an automatic sword-master. The blade can only initiate responses that the master would normally be capable of. If someone’s response to danger is flail wildly, then the blade urges them to flail. But in the hands of a talented swordsman it can allow him to see in all directions and feel an opponent’s moves before they can be seen. Even outside of battle this power has some effect. Wise kings keep it close at hand to detect assassins before they can act. Category:Nordic Empire Category:Dragons Category:Northman Category:Demons Category:Artifacts Category:Volgaland